Comments on: Reds score nine times in ninth to embarrass Cardinals 13-4http://mlb.nbcsports.com/2013/04/08/reds-score-nine-times-in-ninth-to-embarrass-cardinals-13-4/
Baseball. Baseball. And then a bit more baseball.Thu, 14 Dec 2017 02:17:15 +0000hourly1http://wordpress.com/By: jm91rshttp://mlb.nbcsports.com/2013/04/08/reds-score-nine-times-in-ninth-to-embarrass-cardinals-13-4/#comment-471384
Wed, 10 Apr 2013 00:54:45 +0000http://hardballtalk.nbcsports.com/?p=392786#comment-471384Just heard the story on this. Apparently Heisey thought it was a force out and he was trying to break up the play so yadi couldn’t throw out Brandon. He admitted it was a bone head brain freeze and made sure to let yadi know what happened and apologized. Stupid play by Heisey.
]]>By: steeldominancehttp://mlb.nbcsports.com/2013/04/08/reds-score-nine-times-in-ninth-to-embarrass-cardinals-13-4/#comment-471286
Tue, 09 Apr 2013 21:19:53 +0000http://hardballtalk.nbcsports.com/?p=392786#comment-471286Calling people names on the internet has to be the biggest douche move possible. Congrats! The truth brings out how sad of fans you are.
]]>By: spudchukarhttp://mlb.nbcsports.com/2013/04/08/reds-score-nine-times-in-ninth-to-embarrass-cardinals-13-4/#comment-471007
Tue, 09 Apr 2013 16:39:06 +0000http://hardballtalk.nbcsports.com/?p=392786#comment-471007But this has been the point I have been commenting on all Spring. As a Cards fan I am happy to see Choo in center field. And his horrid play yesterday only confirms my belief that the Reds will suffer more than they realize by his presence there.

I imagine he spells his name Thom, cause it is probably Thomas by birth, and it is his damn name.

He may be mostly a TV guy, but in the last 3 games I watched he wasn’t doing the broadcast, and I would know that voice anywhere.

]]>By: jm91rshttp://mlb.nbcsports.com/2013/04/08/reds-score-nine-times-in-ninth-to-embarrass-cardinals-13-4/#comment-470957
Tue, 09 Apr 2013 15:55:48 +0000http://hardballtalk.nbcsports.com/?p=392786#comment-470957A) THOM is a tv announcer. He does less than 5 radio games per year. And if I didn’t know better I’d say he was a Reds Hater. I assume most announcers are pretty cheery and rah rah on the opening week. If the team’s own play by play guys can’t get excited when the season starts, how are they going to sell any tickets to the games?

B) Why the hell does he spell it THOM?

C) As a Cards fan, I can really see your desire to be right. Trading Drew Stubbs out of the division was a blow to all NL Central pitchers. We won’t know until the end of the season, but I have a feeling most of your fellow Cards fans wish Stubbs was playing for the Reds instead of Choo. Choo just flat out dropped balls yesterday and I’m praying it was a fluke.

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Tue, 09 Apr 2013 14:10:41 +0000http://hardballtalk.nbcsports.com/?p=392786#comment-470852jm, I’m not worrying about Choo’s defense. I am reveling in his horrid play. Playing centerfield, like playing SS, is a tough assignment. It takes special skills that few ball players possess. Choo is never going to be a good center fielder. He may pass for adequate, but yesterday’s performance suggests otherwise.

The question baseball people ask, and will continue to ask, is the trade-off going to work?. History predicts that Choo better have lights out offensive numbers to make the choice worth while. No doubt he is off to a great start offensively, but even if he has a career year, he won’t continue on the pace he has currently set. A .379/.514/1.272 with 69 HRs, and 138 RBI are Ruthian. And I am sure that he won’t stumble, fumble, and mumble every game like he did in his first road appearance.

But making excuses about the sun, which had no effect on his first error, glasses up or down, since it was overhead, and the ball was torched on a line, Josh, is exactly the type of acritical analysis that I was criticizing.

As to the “homer” announcers, yeah, the Brennamans have their moments when they discard the “rose colored glasses”, but the TV one’s do not. The past few years I have tuned in to plenty Reds telecasts, and it is always the same. This year since the Reds are rivals, and happened to be playing good teams in the first week, I saw most of the first six games. Trust me that was enough to ascertain an opinion, it was enough glamourizing to choke a horse.

Readers of this site should know that “deflecting” from poor St. Louis play isn’t my style. The ninth inning was defenseless. Boggs was disastrous and he didn’t get much help. But that doesn’t dismiss, Choo’s play either. In his first encounter in a strange park, at an unproven position, he failed miserably, and any body who cares about winning baseball should take notice. He has a long season to redeem himself, and prove to the Reds’ management that they made the right decision by moving him to patrol the more spacious pastures that away game parks will challenge him with.

It is a small sample size, but currently the standings are Away Parks 1, Choo 0, and had it not been for a miserable performance by the Cards in the ninth, he would have single-handedly cost the Reds a loss vs. their division rivals.

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Tue, 09 Apr 2013 13:50:42 +0000http://hardballtalk.nbcsports.com/?p=392786#comment-470825I was happy that Dusty Baker was only the second-dumbest manager in the game for once.
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Tue, 09 Apr 2013 13:38:36 +0000http://hardballtalk.nbcsports.com/?p=392786#comment-470798That’s was insane. I have no idea what in the world he was doing. He was in a position to avoid tag by going the other way and didn’t. Pretty stupid.
]]>By: cardsfanandihttp://mlb.nbcsports.com/2013/04/08/reds-score-nine-times-in-ninth-to-embarrass-cardinals-13-4/#comment-470788
Tue, 09 Apr 2013 13:35:00 +0000http://hardballtalk.nbcsports.com/?p=392786#comment-470788Where were we? Sitting in bars across the state saying to each other, “this will be the last out, then we only have [insert number here] to score to get out on top again.” Spud is right. The price of one bleacher ticket alone yesterday was nearly $200 last time I checked, and most of us can’t afford that (plus all the other expenses), were stuck at work, or are smart enough to know better than go all out on one game in early April. I watched every painful pitch yesterday with a whole room full of people. At the end of the game, we weren’t condemning our boys for such a sad display of baseball, we were saying there’s always tomorrow. Don’t accuse real fans of being fair weather when we aren’t really being represented.
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Tue, 09 Apr 2013 13:34:24 +0000http://hardballtalk.nbcsports.com/?p=392786#comment-470786Actually, on the first ball Choo biffed, I’m pretty sure he didn’t flip the glasses down. Could be wrong, but that’s what I remember seeing. Don’t know on the second one.

An honest, critical viewer, you don’t appear to be. Now I’m a Reds fan, and admit to that, but it seems you have an ax to grind against the Reds (calling out the announcers? How many times have you actually listened to the Reds side of a broadcast?) and are simply deflecting the poorly played 9th inning by trying to call out a bad day by a good player.

Rosenthal and Boggs both look like they are trying to throw every pitch through the catcher instead of making pitches and trusting their stuff. Add to that the defensive miscues…and it was just a horrendous 2 innings in the field…..but…just one game of 162.

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Tue, 09 Apr 2013 12:59:40 +0000http://hardballtalk.nbcsports.com/?p=392786#comment-470749You keep worrying about Choo’s defense. For some reason it makes you feel better, so keep complaining. People that know baseball will point out a million times that Choo’s offense outweighs his defense, and a million times you’ll disagree. Compare Stubbs’ WAR to Choo’s at the end of the year and see what the answer is. I think I already know what the answer will be.

And as for Reds announcers telling fans how great the team is….have you ever heard either of the Brennaman’s on the radio or TV? They are ridiculously impatient with the team. Sure they point out that they’re very talented (like everyone else in the national media has already done), but they are always ragging on the players for leaving runners on base. They aren’t the homers you think they are, in fact I know plenty of people that can’t stand to listen to Marty because they think he’s too negative.

]]>By: spudchukarhttp://mlb.nbcsports.com/2013/04/08/reds-score-nine-times-in-ninth-to-embarrass-cardinals-13-4/#comment-470667
Tue, 09 Apr 2013 06:24:14 +0000http://hardballtalk.nbcsports.com/?p=392786#comment-470667One last question for Reds’ fans, what exactly was Heisey thinking on his slide home?
]]>By: spudchukarhttp://mlb.nbcsports.com/2013/04/08/reds-score-nine-times-in-ninth-to-embarrass-cardinals-13-4/#comment-470661
Tue, 09 Apr 2013 06:12:22 +0000http://hardballtalk.nbcsports.com/?p=392786#comment-470661Josh, really, the sun? As indicated by the Cards’ announcers, Choo’s glasses were down, and he didn’t go after the ball like he was having trouble seeing it, and the glare was in the right fielders’ eyes, not center anyway. It is possible but the replay gives the impression that he just dropped it, and by the way that was his second error not the first.

Speed and range, are important assets for an outfielder, but agility, judgement, and hand-eye co-ordination also play a huge role. Lots of fast guys are crappy outfielders.

Bone-headed implies errors of omission. Now, Choo did have one of those too. Mid-way through the game on a routine fly ball into the left center field gap Choo collided with Heisey. Neither appeared to call the ball, but it is the center fielder’s job to call off the left fielder, especially when the left fielder is newly installed.

But perhaps the most worrisome attempt came late in the game, on a simple pop up into short center, right center. Choo broke back, which can happen, but then inexplicably continued back. Fortunately, for him the ball was hit high enough, that he still had time to recover and make the play, but as indicated by the Cards’ broadcasters, he had become completely frazzled by this, time, and one could tell by the shaking of his head after he recovered that he was clearly shaken by his performance, and his confidence was shot.

Was it a fluky day? Maybe. And no doubt to date, Choo’s offense has out shined his defense, but he won’t be able to continue to stay hot with the bat, and his play should have cost the Reds, had not the wheels come off for Boggs et al.

The honest critical viewer, not the rose-colored one in denial, aided by the every so ready Cincy announcers, who are too busy telling their listeners how great the Reds are, which is just another kind of insecurity, Choo’s play should be bothersome. If his play in the future resembles his vain attempts today, then it will be a long year for the Reds in the outfield, and a lot of games will be lost due to his inability to adapt to the center field position, a place where plus offense rarely offsets minus defense, and a place where the Cards would never think of placing Berkman, Thomas.

]]>By: spudchukarhttp://mlb.nbcsports.com/2013/04/08/reds-score-nine-times-in-ninth-to-embarrass-cardinals-13-4/#comment-470653
Tue, 09 Apr 2013 05:46:48 +0000http://hardballtalk.nbcsports.com/?p=392786#comment-470653Much like play-off crowds, opening day attendees are not indicative of “real” fans. When a ticket becomes tough to procure, the well-heeled often rule. So judging a team by their fans on days when the “average” guy gets nudged out by the more privileged isn’t a fair representation of their true nature.
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